Shades and Shadows
by Setsana
Summary: When the League of Shadows destroys her home and kills her family, Shade is forced to flee to Gotham City. Vowing to bring Ra's al Ghul and his assassins to justice, she must learn to cooperate with the Justice League and their young partners . But things get complicated when she realizes she can be so much more than just a weapon. Dick Grayson/OC. Starts in Season 1.
1. Just A Pit Stop

**A/N: Had this idea stirring around for a while, decided to finally start writing it because YJ got cancelled and I'm going through withdrawal. Let's see how this goes...**

**Chapter 1 takes place about a day after "Infiltrator" (Episode 6).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC Comics creations. Just my OC and her backstory/plot.**

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_**Chapter 1**_

_Just A Pit Stop_

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Star City was quiet this time of night, or at least quieter than usual. Stragglers still wandered their way through the streets, but none noticed the figure standing atop Royal University, cloaked by the veil of night. The person dropped down from the rooftop onto the ledge below, pushing open a window and slipping inside. The intruder remained hidden in a shadowed corner, watching the only other occupant type away at a computer on the other side of the room.

"Dr. Serling Roquette."

The woman at the computer jumped at the sound of a voice, having believed she was alone. Startled, she shot out of her chair, looking for the owner of the voice. But the room was dark, the dim light from her monitor and the windows were not enough to guide her.

"Who's there?" Dr. Roquette asked shakily.

"I mean you no harm." The person who stepped out of the shadows was not what she expected. A young girl with a lithe frame appeared with her hands raised in surrender. Dressed in a modified black sleeveless shozoku*, she wore long black armbands and a belt with a few small compartments around her waist, a pair of fans tucked under it. A long braid of dark hair trailed down her back while some fell around her eyes, the only visible part of her face since the bottom half was covered by a cloth mask.

Dr. Roquette backed up against her computer desk. "You're some kind of League of Shadows assassin or something," she guessed, reaching into her pocket and pressing the button on a small pager-like device. "Here to finish the job?"

Hands still raised, the girl watched Roquette reach into her pocket. Some sort of alert, no doubt; she had to make this quick.

"I am not a Shadow, Doctor." _Well, not in that sense_, she thought. "The League of Shadows is my enemy. I came to you for your help."

"The Shadows wanted my 'help' too, and look where that got me? Excuse me if I'm a little skeptical—"

"You have every reason not to trust me. But please, I have not raised a weapon, nor have I taken one step forward since you asked me to reveal myself. All I require are simple answers."

Perhaps it was her naivety, or perhaps she was stalling for time, but Roquette eventually gave in. "What kind of questions?"

"The assassins who attacked you, was one of them a woman named Cheshire?"

Roquette's look of fear and discomfort was all the answer she needed.

"I do apologize for bringing up bad memories, but it is for the greater good. Did you encounter a man named David Cain?"

"No, I mean, I can't be sure. Why are you asking me this stuff? Why do you want to know about the Shadows?"

The girl evaded the doctor's query. "One last question: do you know where they were holding you?"

Roquette seemed to think for a moment, glancing out the window nervously. For the briefest moment, a look of relief passed over her face, but the girl saw it.

_Time's up._

In a flash, she drew the two metal fans from her belt and snapped them open, just barely blocking the arrow that shot through the window. She gave the frightened Roquette a final look before swinging back out onto the ledge and pulling herself up to the roof.

"Stop!" she heard a man shout, but she was already running from the scene. Jumping onto the next building, she caught sight of her pursuer: a man in a green hooded outfit. She stopped briefly, blocking another arrow as he shot at her, before jetting off around a corner. After a few minutes, she felt she was no longer being followed and slowed her pace to check her surroundings before coming to a halt in an alley.

She'd failed.

Star City had just been a pit stop, but when she heard about Dr. Roquette she couldn't help but seek out answers. Now she was no doubt on the radar of the vigilante who had chased her. _A shinobi's** greatest asset is their ability to remain invisible._ She let out a sigh of defeat and laid her fans out on the ground, looking at them with a careful eye and running her hands over every inch. _There_. A small, circular black object was attached to the back of her right fan. She pried it off and laid it on the ground. Closing her fans, she stowed them away under her belt and took off down the alley.

_Next stop: Gotham City…_

* * *

Green Arrow ran along the rooftops, following the signal on his tracker. He'd planted a tracer on Roquette's intruder with his second arrow, deciding to head back to the university to make sure no other Shadows tried to take out the doctor. Only after touching base with Roquette and having her escorted home by the police did he return to the chase.

He didn't like it, chasing after a kid like this, but he couldn't just let her go because of her age. The Justice League had a whole team of young people working for them, who's to say the League of Shadows wasn't using young members to do their dirty work?

Green Arrow stopped. According to his tracker, he was directly above Roquette's intruder. He armed his bow and peered down to find…

Nothing. An empty alleyway.

"Oh, great," he grumbled.

He jumped down the fire escapes to ground level and surveyed the area, spotting his tracer laying on the ground near a dumpster. _She knew to look for it, _he thought._ Smart kid._ Maybe she really was one of the Shadows, but he couldn't know for sure. Unless…

"Hey, Batman," he said into his comm, "I might have a bit of a... ninja problem. Figured you were the one to call."

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_*Shozoku: A type of dark-coloured clothing worn by practitioners of ninjutsu (the stereotypical "ninja uniform"), however hers is sleeveless, replaced by detached sleeves/armbands._

_**Shinobi: Basically another word (Japanese) for ninja._

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**A/N: So there we go, I have done a prologue and therefore committed. And yes, this will be a Dick Grayson/OC story.**

**I was going to include the timestamps like in the show, but that takes forever, so I'll only do so for time skips.**

**Hoping you like it so far!**

**Please Review! :D**


	2. Stealth Interrupted

**A/N: Thanks for the faves and follows and reviews, people. I honestly did not think this would garner much attention, so I'm glad some of you are interested. (For those of you who are waiting on my Avengers or Walking Dead fanfic chapters, I appreciate your patience. I had some writer's block and hit a snag, but I am working on them now. Don't think I've moved on, but I did want to get this YJ idea down and out of my head.)**

**Anywho, enjoy. :)**

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_**Chapter 2**_

_Stealth Interrupted_

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It had taken her 4 days to travel across the country, but Shade finally arrived in Gotham City that morning. Disguised in civvies, she'd spent the day walking through the streets, memorizing every twist and turn, every alleyway and side road; but Gotham was huge, and she'd barely covered half the city before the sun started to set. Deciding to stop for the night, she retrieved a small tablet from her bag and scrolled through to find what she was looking for:

**39 Kane Street  
****Gotham City**

Hailing a taxi, she got in and read the address out to the driver.

"Sure thing," he said, pulling out into the street. He eyed her through the mirror. "Hey, uh, you okay there kid?"

_Am I okay?_ She returned his look in the rearview mirror and understood: the scar. The long red scar that stretched from just under her left eye down to her jaw. She often forgot about it, usually having it covered by her face mask. _I'll have to remember to start covering it._

"I'm fine," Shade replied in a practice voice, giving him her best fake smile.

"You sure? Cause if you're in any sort of trouble, we could always drop by the GCPD…"

"I appreciate your concern, but honestly I'm fine. This is just from a biking accident," she said, gesturing to her scar.

"A biking accident, huh? That must've hurt pretty bad."

"Well, I wasn't exactly watching where I was going. I'm just glad I'm taking the taxi this time!" She gave a little laugh for good measure.

The driver laughed too. "Yeah, me too! You shouldn't be walking alone in the dark anyways. Gotham can be a dangerous place, especially at night."

Yes, Gotham _was_ dangerous, if her intel was anything to go by. There had been multiple incidents involving the League of Shadows centered around Gotham City; that was why the Order had established a safe house here. She could have gone to any of the safe houses, really, but…

"_Gotham City. Find him... Go… Find…"_

She looked out the window, waiting for the painful memory to pass. Those were the final words of her mentor; his last breath was spent telling her to come here specifically, to find "him", and so she would.

Even if she had no idea who she was looking for.

"Hey kid, you sure this is the right address?"

She came out of her reverie, realizing they had arrived at her destination: a large warehouse near the south docks.

"Positive," she replied to the concerned driver. She was tired of putting on this cheery act, and so handed the driver a wad of cash before exiting the vehicle.

"Um… Alright, if you say so. Stay out of trouble, kid." He waved out the window warily before driving away.

Checking her surroundings, she shouldered her duffle bags and entered the warehouse. It was empty, save for some scaffolding and old metal parts, but it wasn't the warehouse itself that she was interested in. She placed her hand on the wall and walked slowly around the room, running her hand along the smooth concrete until she felt the texture change to a slightly grittier surface. The wall looked no different than the rest of the room, but upon pushing against it, a small panel opened up where her hand had been. Rolling up her sleeve, she placed her arm into the hole in the wall and let the sensors scan it for a moment before drawing back.

There was a metallic sound as the ground beneath her jolted and then lowered her into the basement below. Some technology, storage, weapons and a few small rooms were the only real features, but she didn't bother investigating.

She had work to do.

* * *

Back in her shozoku and mask, Shade landed carefully outside the GCPD headquarters. She had been circling the building for the past few minutes, trying to find the best entry point and deciding on the back wall. She looked through the window to find the room empty; the coast was clear for now. Entering the room, she immediately located the nearest vent and made quick work of the cover, replacing it as she slipped inside. She followed the ducts, peering through the vent grates that she came across until she came to a room with several computers in it.

_Two officers,_ she noted. One sat at a computer while the other watched from over his shoulder. Perfect opportunity.

She dropped down silently and came up behind the larger standing man. Curling her hands into tight fists, she jabbed the pressure points in his neck and back. His partner reacted almost immediately, but she was faster, smothering his cry of shock with one hand while placing the other hand near his neck. She forced pressure onto the points in his trapezius muscle and just above his clavicle, only having to wait a few seconds before he was left unconscious as well.

She retrieved a USB from her belt and inserted it into the open computer, searching for and copying any files the GCPD had on the League of Shadows.

**CASE FILE: Harbour attack**

**CASE FILE: Attempted Assassination**

**CRIMINAL PROFILE: Talia al Ghul**

**CASE FILE: Wayne Tech attack**

**SEIZED WEAPON: The Fog**

**CRIMINAL PROFILE: Professor Ojo**

**CRIMINAL PROFILE: Ra's al Ghul**

_Ra's al Ghul…_

The list went on. She'd have to sort through everything later, there was only so much time before—

"Gage, Commissioner wants to see you," a voice crackled through one of the unconscious men's walkie-talkie's.

"Gage? Hey, you there rookie?"

That was her cue to leave, before any officers came looking. Storing away the USB, she made her way out of the window and up onto the roof. She went to jump over to the next building, but stopped. _Someone's here._

She jumped out of the way of what looked like a circular red shuriken just in time, pushing off into a back flip to land opposite the person that had just landed on the roof.

He was a young boy, likely no older than her, dressed in a red, yellow and black costume. An eye mask hid his identity as he assumed a fighting stance. He looked agile, with a lithe frame but still rather muscular, at least for a boy his age. She watched him take in her own appearance, sizing her up. _Observing the enemy, trying to find weaknesses: he's been trained._

"Of all the people to steal from," he said in an amused tone, "you chose the police? Not the smartest decision."

With that, he lunged at her, and she jumped away again. He drew something from his utility belt and threw it at her: a pair of bolas. Shade snapped her fans open in return, slicing the bolas in half and sending them flying away harmlessly.

"Okay, didn't see that coming," her opponent said, genuinely surprised. He threw more blades at her as an attempted distraction, but she blocked them all, dodging his blow as he finally covered the distance between them. He drew a telescopic bo staff and swung at her. _He's trying to even the odds: weapon versus weapon._ She ducked and rolled out of his path, snapping her fans shut and using them to block his oncoming attacks. _Stay on the defensive; don't attack until it's necessary._ She continued to block his strikes, just narrowly avoiding a kick to the gut. _Fast, flexible, confident,_ she observed. _Perhaps too confident…_ Her opponent was skilled in combat with his chosen weapons, but he assumed he was forcing her defensive position; he assumed she was overwhelmed, when she was just waiting for the right moment.

And it came.

The boy swung his bo staff at her middle. She ducked, springing back up and kicking his staff away, adding to his momentum just enough for him to stumble. As his body jerked forward, she moved to meet him, striking his left shoulder with the knuckles of her closed fist, then his upper arm, then just beside the elbow. She swiveled around to see him clutching his arm as the realization struck him: paralyzed. Well, not exactly, but enough that his left arm would be limp and useless during combat. Reacting quickly, he raced at her and launched a kick, but Shade jabbed his thigh, knee and calf with the same technique. Leaping over him, she grabbed his shoulder and pinched down, twisting the muscle expertly, and landed behind him, watching as he fell in defeat. With both arms and a leg rendered useless, he could no longer stay balanced let alone continue to fight. Turning to his slouched form, Shade watched him struggle to try and stand.

"Just rest. It'll wear off soon."

Shade covered her right fist with her left hand and gave a short bow before turning to leave.

But she never made it off the roof.

It happened almost faster than she was able to process. A sharp pinch in the back of her shoulder; feeling herself begin to lose her footing; prying the small dart from her skin; the woozy feeling that followed.

She took a deep breath and took off running, relying on the adrenaline to keep her going, to keep her awake. She looked around for her new attacker but found no one, instead being met with two more sharp pinches on her leg this time.

And then a shadow fell out of the night sky.

She stopped in her tracks as the inky black thing loomed before her, her vision beginning to blur. It took her a moment to realize it was a person. No, that wasn't right. It couldn't be a person, it didn't look like a person. She began to wonder as her body gave out. It looked like…

_It looked like a bat._

She collapsed as the world went black.

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**A/N: Yeah so... that. Still not much to go on, but the next chapter should start pushing things forward. Plus, hey, now we've got Gotham's finest accounted for. :D**

**Side Note: This is actual DC Comics info - Star City is located on the West Coast (California) and Gotham on the East (New York or New Jersey, I believe), hence why I say "across the country". Easy to forget when everyone travels via zeta-tube.**

**However 39 Kane Street is made up by me because Batman debuted in 1939, drawn by artist Bob Kane. :P**

**Sorry if there's any mistakes. I'll double check if I need to edit tomorrow. Remember to review!**


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